blue screens. should i reformat?

[c0smic]

My computer is 2 years old and has been working very well. About 2 months
ago it started to spontaneously re-boot. I did some research and unchecked
automatically restart in system properties. Then I started getting the blue
screens.

Usually the screen says “IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL” “STOP: 0x0000000A
(0xE0C37E040,0x00000001,0x00000000,0x804FD9BD)

And sometimes “PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA” “STOP: 0x000000050
(oxE8C13980,0x00000000,0x804FD9BD,0x00000002)

I did a lot of searching on the web and often bad memory was suggested as a
reason. So I dwnloaded and ran memtest86. I ran it several times overnight
and always got zero errors. So it would appear that the memory is OK.

I use Drive Image to back-up every month. So I restored an image from
several months ago before I saw the blue screens. I checked the windows
\minidump folder to be sure there were no blue screens at the time the
image was made. And the result was the blue screens continued.

So if I restored an image from before the blue screens started and the blue
screens did not go away does this point to a hardware problem? And if so
where should I look? The blue screens do not happen often, somewhere
between 4 minutes and 4 days.

I have checked all the fans and they work fine. The CPU runs cool. I blew
out all the dust with a can of air.

My hardware: MSI 850 Pro5 mainboard, 2.4 Pentium IV, 1 GB memory

 

[Bob Day]

My computer is 2 years old and has been working very well. About 2 months
ago it started to spontaneously re-boot. I did some research and unchecked
automatically restart in system properties. Then I started getting the blue
screens.

< snip >

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Reseat all the modules, including the memory modules, and cables
inside your computer.

2. Monitor your power supply voltages for a while -- check for
fluctuations and voltages out of spec.

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

 

[Yves Leclerc]

What software/hardware/drivers did you last install before you started
getting these errors?

 

[c0smic]

< snip >

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Reseat all the modules, including the memory modules, and cables
inside your computer.

2. Monitor your power supply voltages for a while -- check for
fluctuations and voltages out of spec.

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

I will try to reseat all the modules as you suggested.

How do I monitor my power supply?

 

[c0smic]

What software/hardware/drivers did you last install before you started
getting these errors?

I have not installed any new hardware for well over a year. I have
installed some new drivers from Windows Update.

I suspected an Invidia driver for the video card. I uninstalled the device
and I had to re-activate Windows XP upon reboot. The generic driver doesn’t
support the video out to my TV so I reinstalled the driver from Windows
Update.

I uninstalled most hardware from the device manager and let it redetect and
install drivers. A friend suggested this.

 

[DL]

Dont use winupdate for drivers, use hardware manu.site only.
There has been a documented problem on Nvidia drivers,amongst others, from
Winupdate

 

[c0smic]

Dont use winupdate for drivers, use hardware manu.site only.
There has been a documented problem on Nvidia drivers,amongst others,
from Winupdate

I will uninstall the driver and see what happens.

 

[Nick Le Lievre]

My computer is 2 years old and has been working very well. About 2 months
ago it started to spontaneously re-boot. I did some research and unchecked
automatically restart in system properties. Then I started getting the blue
screens.

Usually the screen says "IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" "STOP: 0x0000000A
(0xE0C37E040,0x00000001,0x00000000,0x804FD9BD)

And sometimes "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" "STOP: 0x000000050
(oxE8C13980,0x00000000,0x804FD9BD,0x00000002)

I did a lot of searching on the web and often bad memory was suggested as a
reason. So I dwnloaded and ran memtest86. I ran it several times overnight
and always got zero errors. So it would appear that the memory is OK.

I see from the info below that you have 1GB of memory this means it can take
a lot longer then overnight for a memory error to register - your blue
screens happen between 4 minutes and 4 days after all.

I would definetely test the sticks in the system individually as I strongly
suspect one of them is mal-functioning.

 

[c0smic]

I see from the info below that you have 1GB of memory this means it
can take a lot longer then overnight for a memory error to register -
your blue screens happen between 4 minutes and 4 days after all.

I would definetely test the sticks in the system individually as I
strongly suspect one of them is mal-functioning.

Thank you! I will try all suggestions and hopefully that will solve the
problem. Bad memory is easy to fix and that’s what I hope it is. Too bad
all the info on the blue screen doesn’t provide much help.

 

[John Wright]

You might consider going into the BIOS and making sure that resetting your
IRQ settings back to AUTO. Consult your MB documentation for a HOWTO.

Good Luck,

John H. Wright, MCP